


Nothing Sacred

by Shi_Toyu



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Gets a Hug, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Daemon Feels, Daemon Separation, Daemon Touching, Daemons, EMS, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Jealousy, M/M, Non Consensual Daemon Touching, Same-Sex Daemons, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony-centric, aftermath of torture (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-31 02:04:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8559085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shi_Toyu/pseuds/Shi_Toyu
Summary: Tony and Bucky have one thing in common, their daemons are so done with their shit....Okay, they might have a few other things in common, too, but that's the main one.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Furry Tactics](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8513149) by [mistrstank (dreamingdarkly)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingdarkly/pseuds/mistrstank). 



Tony Stark did not have a severed bond with his daemon. He _didn’t_. The media sometimes liked to claim differently, since Tony didn’t want to parade Coda Bianca out in front of the cameras. It’d taken a while for him to even let his whitetailed stag far enough away that they wouldn’t be touching after Afghanistan, but he’d known for a while that things wouldn’t be the same after what his captors had done. _Torture_ didn’t even begin to describe the sensation of having his bond stretched.

The first time Coda had left him since their return was when Obie had paralyzed Tony on that couch. He’d gone to the basement, smashed the case with Tony’s original reactor, and brought it back to him. He’d saved Tony’s life, but it had been a harrowing experience in more ways than just realizing his friend and father-figure had betrayed him. Coda shouldn’t have been able to leave the room without it causing them both incredible pain. Tony was no witch, after all.

They’d started experimenting after that, because they were scientists even if it made them uncomfortable. Coda could travel anywhere in Tony’s Malibu mansion without even the slightest tingle. He could await Tony in the lobby of the SI headquarters while Tony took calls in his office. Pepper and her swan Pierre, worried over them constantly, but there appeared to be no need. Coda couldn’t go more than a mile away from Tony and, even more importantly, he didn’t want to.

“I would never leave you,” he promised, because of course he knew each and every one of Tony’s hidden fears. And Tony believed him.

Then Bucky Barnes had been dragged back to the Avengers tower by Steve. If anything, the assassin’s daemon looked even worse than he did. Amarok, an enormous grey wolf, was so skinny his ribs could be seen beneath his tangled fur. There were patches missing, looking almost as if they’d been worn away by chains. He stayed pressed against Bucky’s side, a constant, low growl warned away anyone who thought to do the man harm. According to the information Natasha had dumped out on the internet, HYDRA had touched Amarok on a regular basis to torture Bucky and to prove their superiority. No doubt the wolf would be happy to touch someone again if it meant ripping them to pieces to protect Bucky. Coda and Tony exchanged one glance before Coda moved forward and dipped his head towards Amarok.

“Come, I think there is a place just a few floors down where the both of you can relax a bit more. We can get you some food while we’re there.”

Steve’s chipmunk daemon had looked devastated when she had to leap off Amarok’s back and return to Steve’s shoulder. Honestly, Steve hadn’t looked much better. Tony had stayed behind as well, so he and Steve could talk about what arrangements needed to be made.  The team all knew he and Coda could separate by now, anyway. It wasn’t like it came as a surprise. Besides, a woodland creature like Amarok really would feel more comfortable in the indoor forest Tony had created for Coda’s pleasure and that would make Bucky feel more comfortable, too.

After that, it became something of a trend for them. Coda kept an eye on Bucky and Amarok, making sure they were all taken care of, while Tony went about his business. He and Coda still spent time together, of course, and often it was with all four of them together while Tony worked on Bucky’s arm. Any alone time they needed, they took while Steve babysat his best friend or at night when Bucky had retreated to his own room. It wasn’t a problem.

Then Amarok and Coda started curling up together on team movie nights, sticking closer to Bucky than Tony, since Bucky didn’t have a stretched bond. Amarok and his human were both healthy and whole again, despite their lingering trauma. Bucky was more or less back to actually being _Bucky_ , laughing and joking and smiling roguishly. He was distractingly handsome once his walls began to drop and Tony didn’t appreciate it. They were friends, though, as far as Tony was concerned. It was just that Coda didn’t act this way around the daemons of any of Tony’s _other_ friends, not even Rhodey and his black bear.

Tony knew it was completely and totally irrational, but that didn’t do much to stop his worry. Coda, of course, picked up on it in an instant.

“I like Amarok,” was his explanation, “and I like Bucky, just like you. If you didn’t like them, then neither would I. I’m just showing them the support and affection you feel like you can’t.”

Which made no sense to Tony, really, because why would he feel like he couldn’t show them affection? Amarok, sure, there was the whole ‘no touching’ thing so of course he wasn’t about to get cuddly with the grey wolf. Bucky, though, Tony showed affection to all the time. They snarked and teased on autopilot and Bucky never hesitated to throw an arm around Tony’s shoulders. Tony had literally sat in the man’s lap before in order to get the best angle to work on a piece of his arm. Coda didn’t seem inclined to elaborate, though. The whole thing left Tony feeling more disgruntled than anything else.

Bucky didn’t seem exactly bothered by the sheer amount of cuddles happening between their daemons, but then Bucky always had been more of a ‘go with the flow’ kind of guy. To be fair, Amarok and Meona, Steve’s chipmunk, were very physical as well, often playing downright silly games with each other. Maybe he just didn’t find anything unusual about it. Tony tried to quell his feelings of disquiet. It wasn’t exactly that it made him uncomfortable. If he could push aside his jealousy and unreasonable insecurity, he actually kind of liked it.

He did know that he wouldn’t be able to fight his insecurity by doing nothing, though. Tony Stark was a futurist, if nothing else, and that meant he could adapt. He would adapt to this, too.

So he moved onto the couch with Bucky during movie nights so Coda and Amarok could just hang out with both of them together. He converted part of his indoor forest into a design lab, no actual building or soldering or fire involved so he could get work done there instead of shut away in his lab. Bucky distracted him plenty, but he also made mocking expressions off-screen whenever Tony was talking to obnoxious department heads or board members so that kind of made up for it.

Coda kept sending him knowing, smug looks, which Tony didn’t understand in the slightest, but that was okay. He could sense the feelings of contentment and happiness coming from his daemon and that was good. Coda was happy. _Tony_ was happy. There wasn’t much more he could ask for, really. And, sure, maybe he still had that little itch in the back of his head that kept telling him Coda would be happier without him hanging on, but he knew _logically_ that wasn’t true. It was ridiculous, really, but it didn’t stop his infernal insecurities from trying to get the best of him.

Coda wasn’t exactly ignoring the issue, either. He regularly tempted Tony away from his work for sunbathing and snuggles. When Tony injured his knee in yet another fight, Coda insisted Tony ride him until he was recovered even though that wasn’t something they had done since Tony was a little kid. It was good, really, and Tony was settling into this new routine more easily than he might have originally thought he would.

Then the team got called out to face Kraven the Hunter and his lioness daemon, Zira. Apparently, they had come to New York to make Spiderman their new prey. Tony took personal offense to the notion, seeing as he had a soft spot for the arachnid boy and his snow fox daemon. (Because it didn’t matter if the kid rubbed his daemon down with ash to hide the color, Tony knew. Just like he knew the kid was really Peter Parker before he expended that paid internship job to him.) Tony didn’t like it when people tried to mess with his stuff.

Parker was trying his best to keep Kraven on the move and away from civilians who could get caught in the crossfire, but it was only a matter of time before he got herded into a situation he couldn’t escape from. Doubtlessly, that was even part of Kraven’s plan. He’d even brought backup, releasing various animals in the streets in an attempt to cause as much mayhem as he possibly could. It was pure chaos by the time the Avengers arrived on scene. It doesn’t stop Bucky from tackling Kraven before he could take a shot at Parker while Amarok dove at Zira, fangs snapping. Tony grabbed Parker and, by extension, Vixey and flew them to a nearby rooftop. Vixey was strapped to Parker’s back, as always, and squirmed at having Tony even that close, with the armor in between.

“Sorry,” Tony apologized, because he really didn’t want to make them uncomfortable. “You need to stay out of sight. As long as he can find you, Kraven will keep coming after you. Head for the tower while we get him contained.”

“It’s fine, when needs must,” Parker brushed off the apology. He understood. “I can fight, though. We both can. We can’t let people get hurt!”

Tony lifted the mask up just so Parker can get the full brunt of his I’m-not-fucking-around-here-kid glare.

“You stick around and Kraven’s just gonna fight now. Then people really _will_ get hurt. So cut the crap and get going. The best thing you can do right now is-“

Tony cut himself off as a torrent of distress floods the bond from Coda’s side. He was over the side of the roof and hurtling back towards the pavement before he even has time to think about it. He had just moments to register that both Amarok and Bucky were crumpled on the ground, Coda standing over Amarok in his Iron Stag armor to defend against Zira’s attacks, before he was there, slamming into the concrete and firing repulsors at Kraven to send him flying backwards.

He heaved Bucky up with one arm and carried him over to Amarok and Coda, just a few yards away. He sent a repulsor towards Zira, too, just to give her a bit more incentive to run after Kraven and make sure he was okay.

“What happened?” he asked hurriedly.

Coda nudged Amarok’s side gently with his nose, making the wolf whimper pitifully. There was a huge tear there along Amarok’s ribs  that was giving off dust and Tony was horrified to catch a glimpse of glistening white underneath.

“Shit,” he cursed.

“Zira caught him,” Coda explained, his fear bleeding into Tony’s own. “He’s giving off dust too quickly. Something has to be done or he’s going to disappear.”

No wonder Bucky was down for the count. Tony looked around wildly, but none of the other Avengers were in sight. Cursing again, colorfully, he disengaged the suit. He was not qualified for this kind of thing. He _wasn’t._

“Sentinel Mode, J. I want you keeping Kraven and that bitch cat of his off our backs if he tries to show up again,” he commanded as he stripped off the shirt of his flight suit. “Coda, I need to you get on the coms. Get medical here _yesterday_ , do you understand me?” Then he dropped to his knees next to Bucky’s daemon, stomach churning. “Sorry, guys, really, but I’m pretty sure you’d rather suffer me touching you than death and madness. Bucky, you can punch me later.”

Then he was pressing his wadded up shirt against Amarok’s wound, making the wolf whine more and struggle weakly against the pain. Beside him, Bucky writhed. Tony felt like the worst possible person. Behind him, he could hear Coda on the coms, working with ruthless efficiency to get a medical team to their position.

“I know, I know,” he rambled helplessly. “I’m sorry. I have to keep pressure on the wound or you’re gonna run out of dust before the medics even get here. So I need you to stay with me, Amarok. Just think about what it’ll do to Bucky if you give up now. He needs you, Big Bad, so stick with it, okay? You want to be there when he punches me for touching you, right? It’s gonna be a good one, too. I bet he’ll even use his metal arm and everything. He’ll probably break my jaw, which I totally deserve. But you’ll both be alive and that’s going to make it all worth it. Now where the Hell are those God damned medics?!”

“Less than three minutes out,” Coda soothed, suddenly at his shoulder. “They’re sending a special team, two primate daemons. They’ll be able to stitch him up without any other contact with a person. Steve and Meona are headed back this way, too, to provide us with some extra cover. Sam and Redwing are tailing Kraven from the skies so we’ll have an eye on his position.”

“You hear that?” Tony asked the two on the ground. “You’re gonna be rid of me before you know it and the medics are gonna fix you up good as new.”

He kept right on rambling through Steve and Meona’s arrival, not stopping until the medics showed up and the two primates moved in to get to work. They were a ring-tailed lemur and an orangutan and they didn’t waste any time. Tony leaned heavily against Coda as the two set to it, the medics loading Bucky onto a stretcher first before returning to assist their daemons.

“You saved their lives,” one of them commented offhandedly to Tony.

Tony couldn’t help but feel like he should have found a way to do it without violating them, too.

“Why don’t you and Coda accompany them to the hospital?” Steve suggested. “I’ll feel more comfortable knowing they’re being watched over and the rest of the team can show up when we’re done here.”

Tony could only nod numbly as Amarok was loaded onto the stretcher with Bucky. It took him by surprise when Steve pulled him into a tight hug and murmured a, “Thank you,” into his hair. He wasn’t given time to react, either, before Steve released him and headed back into battle. Instead, he and Coda followed the ambulance to the hospital before sending both suits back to the tower and heading inside.

It was surprising how short their wait was, actually, before they were ushered into the room where Amarok and Bucky were resting. The bed was extra-large to accommodate both bodies, and Bucky was propped up on pillows while Amarok’s head lay in his lap, white bandages wrapping the wolf’s torso. Tony hesitated in the doorway, almost flinching when Bucky beamed at him. Coda nudging him forward might have been the only reason he made it inside.

“Hey,” Bucky greeted brightly, “they tell me we’re only here because of you. I guess some thanks are in order.”

Amarok wuffed in agreement, his tail twitching in a semblance of a wag. Tony shifted back and forth uncomfortably. Amarok’s wounds and the pain from it must have been too great for them to remember what had happened.

“Not really,” he muttered. “I kinda… Look, I’m here until Steve and the others arrive and then I can head back to the tower if you want. You don’t ever have to see me again.”

Bucky looked confused and alarmed. Amarok whined.

“Why would we want that?” the wolf questioned, voice a rasp.

Tony couldn’t hold his gaze.

“Because I touched you,” he confessed. “I had to put pressure on the wound to stop the dust, but that’s no excuse. I-“

“You _saved_ our _lives_ ,” Amarok growled, lifting his head. “Come here.”

“But-“

“Come. _Here._ ”

Tony stepped around the side of the bed cautiously so that he was next to Bucky and Amarok’s head. He wasn’t sure what at all to expect.

“Lean over,” the great wolf instructed.

Tony glanced at Bucky, wide-eyed, but received nothing but an expectantly raised eyebrow for his trouble. He slowly leant down towards the wolf, wondering if maybe this was all a ploy and he was about to have his face mauled. He wasn’t expecting Amarok to thrust his snout forward and give him a thorough licking. Tony jerked backward immediately, bumping into Coda who had moved in behind him. On the bed, Bucky had given a full body shudder, though his expression said it had more to do with pleasure than discomfort.

“Wha-“

“I don’t _mind_ if you touch me,” Amarok said, turning to nudge Bucky in the chest with his nose, “and I highly doubt Bucky would mind if you touched _him_ a bit once we were out of here.”

For his part, Bucky’s face was turning redder than a tomato.

“ _Amarok-_ “ he hissed, only to be cut off by the wolf’s mocking imitations.

“’It’s that _ass_ , Amarok! Nobody should have an ass that beautiful! And his smile! How am I supposed to sit there and _not_ want to kiss him senseless?’” Amarok gave his person the most deadpan look Tony had ever seen. “Well now you don’t have to worry about it, do you? I kissed him first, which means now the two of you have done something far more intimate than whatever plans you have for each other’s ‘beautiful asses.’ There. Taken care of. Consider it my thank you for saving our lives. Coda and I are tired of it. Get your shit together and _get together_ already.”

Tony gaped and Bucky looked like he was reconsidering a whole litany of his life choices. Coda nudged Tony’s back with his nose, a wave of encouragement coming through their bond.

“Well,” Tony said, drumming up every ounce of courage he could find, “I hope you don’t mind dog slobber.”

And then he leaned forward to kiss Bucky, willfully ignoring Amarok’s affronted blustering about being called a _dog_. It served him right.

**Author's Note:**

> For the record, I know nothing about the daemon world except what I've read in AU fics. Shout out to PeaceHeather for being my guiding light and fact-checking my daemon lore while I messed around.
> 
> Also, shout out to dreamingdarkly for giving me the inspiration for this fic and letting me write it!


End file.
